Preface

There are three things that mark one out as British: a proper cup of tea, turning almost any conversation onto the subject of weather, and a sense of fair play that is best exhibited in politely standing in line and waiting your turn.

There are three things that mark one out as British: a belief in the healing properties of a proper cup of tea, an unerring ability to turn almost any conversation onto the subject of weather, and a sense of fair play that is best exhibited in politely standing in line and waiting your turn.

The art of queuing is something that all Brits learn from an early age, thanks in part to an education system which encourages children to stand in line for everything from assemblies to lunch. It is something which continues long into adulthood – one’s ability to queue is a sign of playing by the rules.

Most of us are also quite prepared to queue for healthcare – accepting the need to wait in turn for treatment on the NHS rather than pushing to the front because we have a fatter wallet.

Those who try to push in at bus stops or supermarket queues are generally met with a gentle tutting under the breath – an aversion to public confrontation being another important British trait.

The long queues for passport control which greet passengers disembarking at Heathrow are not in fact the result of poor planning and a dismissive attitude to the travelling public. They are actually a carefully thought out test for all visitors to see if they have what it takes to be British.

Attitudes towards queuing can tell you a lot about a country or a city. In Kenya, where I lived for several years, people had a relaxed attitude towards personal space, pushing up against you in queues that more resembled melees. It’s perhaps not too big a leap to suggest that this reflected a country where rules were often ignored and there was an entrepreneurial sense of taking what you can.

For the last few days I’ve been in San Francisco, a city which seems to be developing a rather British attitude towards queuing. Lines of patient Californians stretch around the block at some of the city’s most popular restaurants and cafes. As one restaurateur told us, in some areas the queues for rival eateries are starting to bump into each other. It is, it seems, becoming an accepted part of living in San Francisco, a place that is arguably the most liberal city in the United States.

In an age where we are told we can have almost anything we want now, there is, I believe, something to be said for waiting patiently in line.

Related

James Hoare and Jeffrey Kofman join Andrew Mueller to discuss the day’s big stories, we also hear from journalist and author Jimmy Burns about the World Cup defeat of Spain, and The Bookseller’s Cathy Rentzenbrink reviews…

Washington DC is an international talent magnet, pulling in people from around the world to advance agendas for their home territories. With a milieu that’s about as multicultural as it gets, the District of Columbia is as much an immense reservoir of brainpower as a centre of political activity, and is still the place where the best and brightest go to formulate ideas and get decisions made. Monocle met some of those people on a recent trip to the American capital.

Brazil may be the land of soccer and samba, but its status as a superpower is also fast moving beyond the realms of hypothesis into concrete reality. So will global politics soon be moving to a Latin rhythm?

As hundreds of pro-Israel lobbyists gather in Washington to press for a Syrian strike, we ask if it is in Israel’s best interests to demand another US intervention in the Middle East. Plus, we assess whether the Kurdistan…

We visit a town with one of the lowest unemployment rates in Spain to find out what its secret is. We also get the latest defence news from our correspondent Trefor Moss and discuss Chicago’s special role in the US with…